PART 1

Tomorrow is a big day for me. It marks the unveiling of a contest for transformational authors that I entered for my new book on July 31st. Three hundred plus aspiring published authors from all around the world entered their book proposal for the contest.

To even enter this contest, I took a lot of risks and relied on my faith. Whether I’m one of the winners or not, I know that I feel a huge sense of accomplishment just signing up for the contest. As many times with our dreams we don’t even take them seriously enough to sign up for it.

The other thing that I can feel good about is that no matter what the outcome, I do know that I gave it my best. I did everything possible that I could to make my proposal the best possible one that I could submit. One of the things that I did was a “releasing it to God” ceremony I’ll call it.

Before I hit the send button to officially submit my proposal in the contest, I printed off the proposal along with my book cover. I went outside on this gorgeous summer day and in bare feet walked our labyrinth. As I did this, I prayed to God and the angels for gratitude in blessing me with writing this book. Then symbolically and spiritually I gave it to them, releasing it now in their hands. This picture I took as I felt the divine light shining upon me when was doing this.

The other interesting this is that when I was doing my walking prayer ritual a fly landed on my book cover. It stayed on the cover for a while. I didn’t flick it away like I normally do with the flies. I was wondering if this fly guy was trying to tell me something.

I didn’t look up the symbolism of the fly until today, the day before the contest. I was hoping it might give me some insight into what the outcome will be tomorrow. While some of the sources listed the negative aspects of a fly, other sources spoke to my soul about a fly signifying a multifaceted vision and listening to your intuition.

“The fly teaches the ability to greatly multiply prosperity, endeavors and ventures at enormous rates. He shows how to be quick to act and respond to achieve results. Fly aids in demonstrating the power of keen eyesight along with expanding awareness in many directions.”

This gives me hope in how this little insect, just like making progress toward my dream can provide greater insight and prosperity than we know. As I wait until tomorrow, I’ll hold onto the fly’s wisdom.

PART 2 – Flying High

Today’s the day and the fly was right, I was one of the top ten contest winners! I was in awe and so overwhelmed as to all the hard work I’ve put toward the book AND the confirmation that my book is an endeavor that experts in the field deem credible.

One of my prizes is the top access to the transformational author program for 2013, which I’m thrilled about because it was such an incredible program. The second prize I received is that a president of a major publishing company will critique my proposal and if it’s a fit I could receive a publishing contract. Receiving a contract to publish my book and to have a partner to do so is a lifelong dream. I wait with great hope and continue to pray for this opportunity to come to fruition.

The night before I found out my answer there was a fly in our house. I saw my husband smack it with a fly swatter and it fell to its death. Immediately, I thought I hope that’s not a sign for what’s to come.

Part 3 – Nice Try

Unfortunately, I was right with the fly. The next day the dream with this particular publisher is dead. He didn’t feel that how my proposal was currently written would be a fit for their organization. While I’m extremely grateful for his critique, of course I am disappointed that I was not selected. Most successful publishers have been rejected multiple times, and this is not my first rejection either. While this lead is dead, the good thing is that they are other opportunities out there just like there are a ton of flies around. Now I just need to regroup with my dream and get ready to fly in a different direction.

Janae Bower is an inspirational speaker, award-winning author and training consultant. She founded Finding IT, a company that specializes in personal and professional development getting to the heart of what matters most. She started Project GratOtude, a movement to increase gratitude in people’s lives.